Nearly a third of Londoners say they are going without "essential items" because of the Government's spending cuts, an exclusive poll for the Evening Standard reveals today.

In a sign that Chancellor George Osborne's squeeze on welfare payments and public sector payrolls is biting into family finances, 29 per cent said they could not afford things they need and 46 per cent said they were having to give up luxuries, compared with 38 per cent who were not. Only 16 per cent said their household was not affected at all by the cuts.

The survey, by pollster ComRes, was carried out for the Evening Standard in conjunction with TV's London Tonight and LBC radio. It comes as a series of tax, benefit and pension reforms come into effect tomorrow.

Tim Nichols, of the Child Poverty Action Group, said the findings tallied with the charity's own research into the impact of cuts.

Many families turned down the heating or only heated one room in their home to save money, he said. Others skipped their own meals to feed their children or delayed buying new clothes or shoes, leaving their children inadequately dressed.

"Low income families are already going without and we expect this to worsen as fuel and food prices rise," he added.

However, only 35 per cent of voters in London blame the Conservative-led Coalition mainly for the pain of the cuts. Some 44 per cent think the previous Labour government led by Gordon Brown "is more to blame". Among people over 65, the age group most likely to vote, Labour was blamed by around two to one - 59 per cent over 29 per cent.

But there was a clear divide between people living in the centre of the capital and those in the suburbs. A third of inner London residents blamed Labour more, while that rose to over half in the outer ring.

Overall, two thirds of Londoners think the cuts are "unfair" because they affect poor families more than wealthy ones. Only 22 per cent disagreed.

Women were more likely than men to say the squeeze is unfair - 72 per cent to 60 per cent.

More than half of the people polled, 55 per cent, feel worse off compared with 29 per cent who did not.